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Movies / On DVD / You Don't Mess With The Zohan
You Don't Mess With The Zohan

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You Don't Mess With The Zohan (2008)

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Reviews Counted:177

Fresh:64

Rotten:113

Average Rating:4.6/10

Consensus: You Don't Mess With the Zohan features intermittent laughs, and will please Sandler diehards, but after awhile the leaky premise wears thin.

Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins

Genre: Comedies

US Box Office: $100,018,837

Synopsis: Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY, HAPPY GILMORE) directs this comedy co-written by Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel. Disco- and hummus-loving Zohan (Sandler) is the Israeli army's best weapon.... Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY, HAPPY GILMORE) directs this comedy co-written by Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel. Disco- and hummus-loving Zohan (Sandler) is the Israeli army's best weapon. He can single-handedly take out terrorists and swim like a dolphin, and still find time to charm the ladies. But this lethal weapon is tired of fighting Palestinian terrorists like the Phantom (John Turturro). He has bigger dreams: he wants to cut and style hair. Unfortunately, once Zohan arrives in New York City with a new look straight out of the 1980s and an assumed identity after faking his own death, his lack of experience gets him laughed out of salon after salon. Finally, Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui), a Palestinian salon owner, gives him a shot, and the older patrons love him. But just as Zohan is hitting his stride, Salim, a Palestinian New York City cabbie (Rob Schneider) recognizes him, and suddenly the Zohan's dream is in jeopardy. To confuse matters more, there is a Trump-like developer (Michael Buffer) who is trying to clear out the Manhattan neighborhood where Israelis and Palestinians peacefully coexist in order to build a mall. A bulked-up Sandler is amusing as Zohan, and this is Schneider's best performance in years. Despite the extreme stereotyping, there is an underlying message about the futility of war and fact that people really are, after all, just people. The film is peppered with brief appearances from a menagerie of celebrities, including Chris Rock, Dave Matthews, Charlotte Rae, Kevin James, John McEnroe, Mariah Carey, George Takei, and Bruce Vilanch. Lainie Kazan and Nick Swardson also star in this film as a mother and son who befriend the new immigrant. [More]

Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson

Starring: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, Lainie Kazan, Rob Schneider

Director: Dennis Dugan

Director: Dennis Dugan
Screenwriter: Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow
Producer: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo
Composer: Rupert Gregson-Williams
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for You Don't Mess With The Zohan

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41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

As stupid as ever, but surprisingly clever.

comment Comment
07/03/08
David Poland
David Poland
Movie City News

There are a handful of legitimately funny jokes, even though -- though it frightens me to say so -- I don't get as excited as I got when I was fifteen.

Full Review Source: The Cinema Source | comment Comment
07/01/08
Michael Dance
Michael Dance
The Cinema Source

The script has a couple of actually funny gags, but hack director Dennis Dugan messes up the delivery in service to Sandler's titanic ego.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
06/27/08
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

If "Munich" is the disease, the Zohan is the cure. Some hard little grains of truth make this Sandler's funniest movie since "The Waterboy."

Full Review Source: KyleSmithOnline.com | comment Comment
06/20/08
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
KyleSmithOnline.com

Sandler's unflappable Jewish gigolo superhero hairdresser act is an overconceptualized drag.

Full Review Source: Style Weekly (Richmond, VA) | comment Comment
06/17/08
Thomas Peyser
Thomas Peyser
Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)

Director Duggan serves up a scattershot satire that is about as funny as a Palestinian landmine at an Israeli kiddie birthday party. Broad, offensive and thinly veiled...

Full Review Source: Movie Eye | comment Comment
06/16/08
Frank Ochieng
Frank Ochieng
Movie Eye

This moviegoer has no trouble with lowbrow comedy. The problem with Zohan, however, is that it’s like a kid who tells you a silly joke, gets a laugh, and immediately tells the same joke again.

Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
06/16/08
David Denby
David Denby
New Yorker
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

I’m all for politically incorrect humor, but there has to be humor in the political incorrectness, and I didn’t get it here.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
06/16/08
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Lame hair comedy riddled with greasy dandruff.

Full Review Source: Tucson Weekly | comment Comment
06/15/08
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Tucson Weekly

When it's funny, it's very, very funny, but when it's bad, it's downright awful.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
06/12/08
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

For all its flaws, Zohan remains a tolerable if inane piece of entertainment that scores points for trying...

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
06/12/08
Stax
Stax
IGN Movies

Sandler can still do it when it comes to silly.

Full Review Source: San Antonio Express-News | comment Comment
06/12/08
Larry Ratliff
Larry Ratliff
San Antonio Express-News

despite all of the film's problems, there are still plenty of very funny moments and Zohan is one of Sandler's more enjoyable characters.

Full Review Source: Sean the Movie Guy | comment Comment
06/12/08
Sean McBride
Sean McBride
Sean the Movie Guy

When I think of movies that have a locker-room mentality I think of movies like this one, another sleazy, dirty-minded offering from Adam Sandler.

Full Review Source: Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) | comment Comment
06/11/08
Linda Cook
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

There are really only four jokes in the movie, and each of them goes from being pleasantly goofy to positively leaden as the film's needlessly protracted running time unspools.

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
06/11/08
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

"Zohan's" first hour may well be the strongest stretch of any Sandler comedy. But, in its second half, the film's humor takes a backseat in favor of a heavy-handed plea for Mideast peace. A noble goal, of course, but not a very funny one.

Full Review Source: The Trend | comment Comment
06/11/08
Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver
The Trend

Isn't all that different from any number of old Adam Sandler pictures. That's to say that it's not very good, and you probably won't find it terribly funny.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
06/11/08
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

You Don't Mess With the Zohan tries to mix high-brow satire with low-brow gross-out humor. The combination kills the story's pacing.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
06/10/08
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

The movie has surprisingly little energy. Sandler seems to think all he needs to do is talk in a phony middle-eastern accent to generate laughs, but what he's saying should also be funny too, right?

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
06/10/08
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

The Zohan is a mess

Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | comment Comment
06/09/08
Jackie K. Cooper
Jackie K. Cooper
jackiekcooper.com
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
all

Latest News for You Don't Mess With The Zohan

October 05, 2008: This counter-terrorism satire is its own worst enemy. Especially whenever Sandler's whining geek turned combo swaggering assassin hair stylist's too-much-information bulging prosthetic crotch pops up. Opens in new window
More...

August 19, 2008: Arab Censors Mess With The Zohan Opens in new window
In a move that will leave some American filmgoers seething with jealousy, censors in Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates have banned Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With... More...

August 16, 2008: NewFilmReview: This counter-terrorism satire is its own worst enemy. Especially whenever Sandler's whining geek turned combo swaggering assassin hair stylist's too-much-information bulging prosthetic crotch pops up. Opens in new window
More...

July 13, 2008: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Moody Superheroes Rule the Box Office
Hellboy II: The Golden Army nudges Hancock out of first place while Murphy debuts as the summer's biggest flop. More...

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